WEST BANK RESIDENCE
A home where the interior reflects the environment outside.
Wilson, Wyoming • 5,000 sq. ft.
Design Team: Chris Moulder, AIA; Kevin Noble
The owners of this home are from New Jersey and they love coming to Jackson Hole to ski and golf and enjoy family time with their children and grandchildren. While they didn’t have a particular architecture style in mind, they wanted something traditional yet somewhat contemporary, and they envisioned large windows and beautiful woodwork. The scope of the project was a 5,000 square foot home with four bedrooms, each with a private bath. The overriding factor in the design of the residence was the property’s panorama of views. Located on the west side of the valley, it offers tremendous, distant views of the Tetons, and more specifically the Wilson faces. In spite of the relative proximity of other residences, the scenery is very open and broad to the south towards Munger Mountain and other southern peaks of the Teton Range. It was Principal Chris Moulder’s task to incorporate and frame these unexpected Zen vistas from every room, particularly from the bedrooms and office space on the second floor. Capturing these scenes throughout the house was exciting to anticipate and challenging to design so that the inhabitants can take in the mountains, and not the neighbors, and vice versa. The resulting floor plan is simple, holistic and linear with an angle at the center to take advantage of views to the west through the large-span windows on both facades. The living room is a two-story space with a ceiling of clear cedar and for contrast, dark Douglas fir timber beams and columns set against stained white oak floor. Overlooking the room is an L-shaped balcony on the second floor with a rail system of black powder-coated tubular metal structure finished with white oak handrails. The staircase makes a statement with a set of stacked square windows creating a light-filled stairwell. Opposite the living room and adjacent to the kitchen is a large screened in porch that expands the living space with unencumbered views to Munger Mountain.
Choosing the right materials is essential, as working with them is similar to creating an artistic composition – it’s about breaking down the bulk and scale of the house. Cedar siding was primarily used along with Douglas fir for its strength and durability as timber. Montana moss rock was laid as dry-stacked stone, as it is very durable for the weather conditions our valley experiences. The second floor roof is covered with wood cedar shingles, and a standing seam metal roofing was used in the shallower sections of the first floor. One might be surprised by the number of colors in the exterior palette. Bison brown semi-transparent stain was used for the horizontal siding, while a blue-grey note of semi-transparent stain was used for the vertical siding and soffit. All door and window trim, beams and columns are in semi-transparent oxford brown while the fascia is stained brick red to match the window cladding. The fireplace is clad with rusted Corten steel siding panels on both the exterior and the interior of the chimney mass walls to bring consistency to the home design.
On the inside, the home is serene and understated, clean, simple and un-fussy. The colors on the interior mimic those seen outside the windows with the winter whites of clouds and snow, blues of sky and water, grays of granite mountains and shades of brown from trees, brush and rocks. The emphasis is on the scenes outside and an ever changing artist’s palette of the seasons. This is a home where the interior reflects the environment outside – the living room coffee table with its inlaid river, cowhide chair, antler chandelier and leather couch, the suede upholstery of the kitchen’s bar stools, the natural motif bedding, and river rock shower floor with gray wall tiles. It is a custom mountain home, unique in its traditional materials applied in more modern ways which inside and outside blends with the surroundings.